A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER FOR USE IN AN ULTRASOUND IMAGING DEVICE, AND AN ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER AND ULTRASOUND PROBE MANUFACTURED ACCORDING TO THE METHOD.
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an ultrasound transducer (13) for use in an ultrasound imaging device (10), an ultrasound transducer manufactured according to the method and an ultrasound probe comprising at least one ultrasound transducer manufactured according to the method. The method comprises the steps of providing a carrier (51)of semi-conductor material comprising a two dimensional array of conductive pads (52), wherein the carrier of semi-conductor material comprises electronic circuitry connected with the conductive pads for further processing outside said ultrasound transducer. Next on the carrier a layer comprising piezo electrical material (58) is provided and it covers the two dimensional array of conductive pads. Then each of the plurality of transducer elements is separated by dicing the two dimensional array on the carrier. Finally a grounding layer (61) is provided on the plurality of transducer elements for grounding each transducer element. Between the carrier and the layer comprising the piezo electrical material however there is a buffer layer (57) provided which has a thickness arranged for dicing each of the plurality of transducer elements on the carrier.
